Dusting my PC: A Project

[BeardyHat]

Started playing Yakuza: Like a Dragon yesterday and after about 30 minutes of playing, my PC would just shut itself down. At first I thought it might be a fluke, but then it happened again after about the same amount of time, so I figured I'd better try and solve the problem. Thinking the most likely culprit was dust and clogged fans, I decided to have a go this afternoon, as well as solve a little issue of it sitting on the carpet, which I've been meaning to do for awhile.

Here's a little Imgur album of the fun.

https://imgur.com/a/dqbLEqF

View: https://imgur.com/a/dqbLEqF

 

[Brian Boru]

Hey, I like the decorative stippling on your fans!

Is that a ghost…

Nice job, I assume there are no vents on top or bottom or sides or back… hang on a tick, how's air getting in?
PS: and out.

 

[BeardyHat]

Hey, I like the decorative stippling on your fans!

Is that a ghost…

Nice job, I assume there are no vents on top or bottom or sides or back… hang on a tick, how's air getting in?
PS: and out.

PSU has its own little air channel, sucking air in from the bottom and pushing it out the back.

The big fan in front sucks in from the front (the cover in front of the fan has gaps on both sides, top and bottom) and pushes it directly out the back. There's a vent right there next to the CPU.

I'd considered adding another fan at that rear vent, to potentially increase airflow (first time in the 10ish years I've actually had this issue. Probably due to the new video card, since the CPU isn't drawing anymore wattage, I believe), but my mobo is an micro ATX and doesn't have any additional fan headers.

I'll apparently just have to remember to clean it once every 8 months with the new processor and GPU.

Also, am I haunted? I didn't see no ghosts...

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

PSU has its own little air channel, sucking air in from the bottom and pushing it out the back.

The big fan in front sucks in from the front (the cover in front of the fan has gaps on both sides, top and bottom) and pushes it directly out the back. There's a vent right there next to the CPU.

I'd considered adding another fan at that rear vent, to potentially increase airflow (first time in the 10ish years I've actually had this issue. Probably due to the new video card, since the CPU isn't drawing anymore wattage, I believe), but my mobo is an micro ATX and doesn't have any additional fan headers.

I'll apparently just have to remember to clean it once every 8 months with the new processor and GPU.

Also, am I haunted? I didn't see no ghosts...

Grab a rear fan I'd say, you can just use a basic 2 way splitter from Amazon or whatever on the fan header you wont over amp the port by a long shot.

 

[Colif]

The horror

Maybe you should clean it more often

I had been meaning to do mine but its only 3 months since last time

Before:

Now:

Sure makes it quieter and cooler

It doesn't need a rear fan if that 200mm fan on front is actually clear of dust on filter, With only one exit, air has to go out the back. Its not a case I would use, the only inlets on front aren't real big

 

[BeardyHat]

Grab a rear fan I'd say, you can just use a basic 2 way splitter from Amazon or whatever on the fan header you wont over amp the port by a long shot.

Definitely something I thought about, but I'll probably leave it as is for now. I've been running this case for close to 10 years now and my current setup actually draws less power than my old.

Though given my penchant for benchmarking, it might be fun to do some and see if it makes a difference or not.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I doubt it will make any noticeable performance difference but its nice to keep things a bit cooler for longevity IMO.

 

[Colif]

What case is that?

the days before fishtanks, where cooling was an after thought.

I had a Case from back then, only one spot air could go in... but it was intentional and used to be best air cooling case you could buy until Fractal beat it in the last few years.

I would say I miss it but its still in my room with me now. I wonder if ssd still boots. I haven't plugged it in for 3 years.

 

[BeardyHat]

I doubt it will make any noticeable performance difference but its nice to keep things a bit cooler for longevity IMO.

Fair enough, though again, not necessarily a worry.

The components that started their life in there around 2015 are still in use in another application in my home, seeing daily gaming use (Mobo/RAM and GTX970. Processor was upgraded), in fact just made some solid progress on Lies of P playing on that machine yesterday.

 

[BeardyHat]

What case is that?

the days before fishtanks, where cooling was an after thought.

I had a Case from back then, only one spot air could go in... but it was intentional and used to be best air cooling case you could buy until Fractal beat it in the last few years.

I would say I miss it but its still in my room with me now. I wonder if ssd still boots. I haven't plugged it in for 3 years.

Phanteks something or other

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16811854016?item=N82E16811854016

I used to have a full tower, but got tired of the size and weight.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Fair enough, though again, not necessarily a worry.

The components that started their life in there around 2015 are still in use in another application in my home, seeing daily gaming use (Mobo/RAM and GTX970. Processor was upgraded), in fact just made some solid progress on Lies of P playing on that machine yesterday.

I used to get unreasonably obsessed with airflow, benching and stress testing in a galaxy far away where I seemed to have enough time to do stuff like that. So I have that hangover at least where I'm checking temps fairly regularly still. Im pretty sure 90% of people never look at all so no worries!

 

[BeardyHat]

I used to get unreasonably obsessed with airflow, benching and stress testing in a galaxy far away where I seemed to have enough time to do stuff like that. So I have that hangover at least where I'm checking temps fairly regularly still. Im pretty sure 90% of people never look at all so no worries!

I get you. I usually only bench when I get a new piece of hardware, which I did with all these upgrades, especially once I put Kyronaut paste on the CPU.

That said, of habits that stick around, I check fire extinguishers. I had a job long ago where that was part of it, making sure their still in spec, according to their dials. So now when I'm out and about, I'll check random ones just to see.

 

[Colif]

Im pretty sure 90% of people never look at all so no worries!

I am in that other 10% with you.
I always know temps of CPU as its on taskbar, always curious why it rises if it does. What is windows doing now.

that was a few days ago. photo was necessary as the action of taking screenshot would change CPU temps.
cores/package/Nvme/GPU in order of temps.


need to clean screen still. I can't see the dust unless light is shining on it.

Lowest I ever seen in any PC was 16c in my PC above, so getting to 19c on a 8core CPU is impressive
PC only hits 80c running all cores at 4.3ghz Cinebench R23, I did it a few days ago.
I generally don't stress test PC as sometimes I don't want to know.

only review I can find for your case mentioned bad air flow.

i might get a slightly smaller case next time, I just have to make sure my GPU fits in it.

 

[BeardyHat]

I am in that other 10% with you.
I always know temps of CPU as its on taskbar, always curious why it rises if it does. What is windows doing now.

that was a few days ago. photo was necessary as the action of taking screenshot would change CPU temps.
cores/package/Nvme/GPU in order of temps.


need to clean screen still. I can't see the dust unless light is shining on it.

Lowest I ever seen in any PC was 16c in my PC above, so getting to 19c on a 8core CPU is impressive
PC only hits 80c running all cores at 4.3ghz Cinebench R23, I did it a few days ago.
I generally don't stress test PC as sometimes I don't want to know.

only review I can find for your case mentioned bad air flow.

i might get a slightly smaller case next time, I just have to make sure my GPU fits in it.

Most cases will fit a full size GPU. I just rebuilt my HTPC with one of these and while it was a bit of a struggle to initially get things fit in there, it fit my 970 and works well for my needs.

Amazon.com

Maybe I'll eventually pick another up for my main PC if airflow is that bad, but again, I've been running it for almost 10 years now and have only had issues because I don't clean it regularly enough, as it's kind of a pain to get at it where it is. But pulling the front panel off and just cleaning the fan cover would be easy and might do the trick to keep things running normally.

 

[Colif]

At time I made PC, people asked why I bought such a large case.
At that time my GPU looked tiny in it so I understand their point of view:

But the new GPU makes more use of the space compared to the 2070 Super I had at time

And case doesn't look as empty anymore. A few other things changed in that time too.
My current GPU is almost 35cm long, it wouldn't have fit in a smaller case.

I had a 980 in my previous PC, it was only 28cm long

ASUS STRIX GTX 980 DirectCU II OC Specs

NVIDIA GM204, 1279 MHz, 2048 Cores, 128 TMUs, 64 ROPs, 4096 MB GDDR5, 1753 MHz, 256 bit

www.techpowerup.com

Silverstone make good cases. My old one in post 8 above was a Silverstone. Prior to current case, my last two cases were made by them. I would have this case too but finding them in 2020 wasn't exactly easy. Not a good time to build one. I had to make do.

 

[BeardyHat]

Well, funny how things work out sometimes; I just received back a very old case/PC of mine and I think I'll build my PC into it. I'll need to do some work first, such as moving my desk a bit, cleaning this thing out (maybe a soapy bath) and I might paint the red parts of it, as they have that rubberized plastic that's now aging and has become tacky and weird. But I'll have to research if I can just paint it or if I should try and clean it up with some isopropyl or something first.

https://imgur.com/a/lDDNw6J

Received it back from my Sister in Law, who I must have sold it to around 2015 or so? She wants me to recover the data off the disks and then get rid of it, but I'm about to buy myself some expanded storage for my server and I'll need the extra hard drive slots this case provides.

Doing some research (Google, "Red Aerocool PC Case" and scroll through images) , it is apparently an Aerocool DS Cube

Aerocool DS (Dead Silence) Case Review

Aerocool, a company best known for its flashy tower-style gaming cases, surprised us with a small and well-thought-out cube-shaped chassis with space for tall CPU coolers and long graphics cards, in spite of its size. It comes in six color combinations.

www.tomshardware.com

 

[Colif]

https://aerocool.io/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/DS-CUBE-EOL-min.pdf

Orange one looks cool too

Aerocool DS Cube Review

Aerocool's Dead Silence series of cases aims to be quiet, but flashy, thanks to its various bright color choices. With the DS Cube, the company is offering a compact mATX chassis having the ability to hold potent components, which allows you to build a hip gaming rig.

www.techpowerup.com

is it plastic or metal? I can't tell from the video

A case from the past where air flow was an after thought

Now... well, most cases are fish tanks covered in rgb

PSU has a dust filer, does the intake fan inside also have one? I would hope so.

 

[Brian Boru]

most cases are fish tanks covered in rgb

Does that make them clown fish tanks?

 

[BeardyHat]

https://aerocool.io/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/DS-CUBE-EOL-min.pdf

Orange one looks cool too

Aerocool DS Cube Review

Aerocool's Dead Silence series of cases aims to be quiet, but flashy, thanks to its various bright color choices. With the DS Cube, the company is offering a compact mATX chassis having the ability to hold potent components, which allows you to build a hip gaming rig.

www.techpowerup.com

is it plastic or metal? I can't tell from the video

A case from the past where air flow was an after thought

Now... well, most cases are fish tanks covered in rgb

PSU has a dust filer, does the intake fan inside also have one? I would hope so.

Orange would be cool and definitely thought about painting this one that color (I only recently figured out that orange is a favorite color of mine when I looked at a lot of things I own, which are all orange), but I'm going with black once I get this thing cleaned up. The amount of color on this thing is a little too much for me and I'd prefer something more subtle.

It's all plastic exterior, with a pretty solid metal cage. I took the entire thing apart last night to get it ready to clean and paint.

Airflow actually appears to be better, according to the Tom's review. Unfortunately, no dust filters anywhere else, so it'll stay less clean inside than the current case, but that may not be an issue, given that once that filter on my current case clogs, I'm overheating, but I need to be more diligent about cleaning anyway.

 

[Colif]

Does that make them clown fish tanks?

I would love a PC that was in a fish tank...

20+ years ago I used to have a 4 foot fish tank in my room. I used to have Clown fish but not those ones in picture as they are salt water fish and were too expensive to buy 20 years ago, hate to think how much they are now
I had these:

Orange would be cool and definitely thought about painting this one that color (I only recently figured out that orange is a favorite color of mine when I looked at a lot of things I own, which are all orange)

mine is either Blue or Black based on the things I own. My PC is currently both of those colors. I don't have favourites really, there are more colors I don't like... although all my electronics is black... next PC case might be White to break this pattern. I want to make it two tone... contrast is nice. My case is like Hot Blacks space ship. Black labels on black plastic...It wasn't intentional, it just happened.

but that may not be an issue, given that once that filter on my current case clogs, I'm overheating, but I need to be more diligent about cleaning anyway.

how often is PC used? You could use a program to track temps and then you can see over time how the temps increase. Helps to know what normal is after a clean so you have a baseline. Also depends if you have A/C or not.

I swapped AIO in December and have to wait a year to work out "normal" as I don't have A/C and temp in room depends on ambient outside. Winter now so temps are between 20 and 30c on my CPU, but I know it won't be down there in summer.

Knowing what range temps are in a clean state can help work out if you need a clean.

This is my unrealistic baseline for Winter, I doubt I get much lower this year:

first temp is CPU cores, then CPU package (exterior of CPU), then Nvme, then GPU (yes, screen is dirty, or was).

This is what I use to track my temps

Info - How to use HWINFO to track temps on PC

Download HWINFO - https://www.hwinfo.com/download/ when you open the app, click the tick box next to show sensors only, and click run in the next window, click on the gear icon in bottom right, this opens settings. On General tab, under polling period, set it to 500 and click the set button...

forums.pcgamer.com

I like to know what my PC is doing since 90% of the time its just sitting idle and I notice if it suddenly starts doing something randomly.

Fan noise also increases as dust on fan blades makes them louder. That is actually how I figure it out first.

 

[BeardyHat]

how often is PC used? You could use a program to track temps and then you can see over time how the temps increase. Helps to know what normal is after a clean so you have a baseline. Also depends if you have A/C or not.

I swapped AIO in December and have to wait a year to work out "normal" as I don't have A/C and temp in room depends on ambient outside. Winter now so temps are between 20 and 30c on my CPU, but I know it won't be down there in summer.

Knowing what range temps are in a clean state can help work out if you need a clean.

This is my unrealistic baseline for Winter, I doubt I get much lower this year:

first temp is CPU cores, then CPU package (exterior of CPU), then Nvme, then GPU (yes, screen is dirty, or was).

This is what I use to track my temps

Info - How to use HWINFO to track temps on PC

Download HWINFO - https://www.hwinfo.com/download/ when you open the app, click the tick box next to show sensors only, and click run in the next window, click on the gear icon in bottom right, this opens settings. On General tab, under polling period, set it to 500 and click the set button...

forums.pcgamer.com

I like to know what my PC is doing since 90% of the time its just sitting idle and I notice if it suddenly starts doing something randomly.

Fan noise also increases as dust on fan blades makes them louder. That is actually how I figure it out first.

My PC is generally on 24/7, as it acts as my server. When I first upgraded it, I was running HWInfo, but stopped after I figured out things weren't getting too hot.

Generally, I don't pay too close of attention to how hot my PC is, but that's in large part because I rarely use it while sitting in front of it. Most of the time it sees use as the home file server and watching Youtube while I paint or build miniatures, so I only tend to notice there's a problem on the rare occasion I might game on it and it's shutting down due to overheats.

Most of the time I'm gaming on my laptop or my Steam deck and those temps are more important to me, so they get more regular monitoring.

 

[Brian Boru]

no dust filters

You might be able to hack some from eg your wife's stockings… er, when she's not wearing them…
Unusually, I'm being serious—it is a thing

either Blue or Black based on the things I own

There you go Beardy, will totally match your face after wife catches you!

 

[mjs warlord]

My pc componants are in a cooler master haf x tower , 2 front fans , 2 rear , 1 top and 1 side , the cpu cooler is a noctua nh d15s its huge ..... and not forgetting 2 other fans on my gpu , if the rig did not have a few led strips on it you would not know it was turned on. I take the side off every few months just for the hell of it and give it a quick blast with an air duster although i probably dont need to do it that often.

The rig is so heavy when it was delivered i could not lift it out the box , i had to stand the box on its side , push it to where i wanted it then cut the box from around it ....... then the wife goes and says what you gonna do if something is wrong with it and it has to go back ..... no box !!!!!

 

[Colif]

When I first upgraded it, I was running HWInfo, but stopped after I figured out things weren't getting too hot.

Take a screenshot of fan temps when they clean could be a useful reference for later on. Don't need to run it all the time, just occasionally enough to be able to see differences. Also helps to know average temp in different seasons, if you don't keep house at same temp all year.

Temp on CPU in summer was 31c, in winter its 21c. Probably as the fan speed on AIO doesn't drop below 913rpm all year and its likely its not really needed to cool PC.
The way the pump in the AIO works is - its speed is regulated by fan speed. At 40% fan speed, the pump is at 100% speed.
So I just set fans to 40% speed as minimum to keep pump running max speed.

Since fans in AIO always at certain speed, I can run my two chassis fans slower. Both only run at between 300 & 400, they not at same speed due to this:

Their lower speed means I can't hear them and tell if they noisy from dust.

I really need to clean my room but there is always something better to do. That will help my PC a lot.

The rig is so heavy when it was delivered i could not lift it out the box ,

I get that, I am reluctant to pick mine up now... its why I clean it where it is. take filters out back and clean them there.

 

[BeardyHat]

You might be able to hack some from eg your wife's stockings… er, when she's not wearing them…
Unusually, I'm being serious—it is a thing



There you go Beardy, will totally match your face after wife catches you!

She can make me black and blue when I tell her I'm going to order magnetized screens for the case, cause she doesn't have any pantyhose!

It may all be moot anyway, depends on if I can get this degraded sticky coating off for repainting. So far I've tried 2 solvents and no luck; now I'm soaking it in something I usually soak miniatures in for stripping, so we'll see if that does anything.

Worst case, maybe I'll swap the fans over into the existing case, as they have molex connectors, so I can get them hooked up no problem.